"The central doctrine of Christianity, then, is not that God is a bastard. It is, in the words of the late Dominican theologian Herbert McCabe, that if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you."--Terry Eagleton

"It is impossible for me to say in my book one word about all that music has meant in my life. How then can I hope to be understood?--Ludwig Wittgenstein

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice."--Bryan Stevenson

Monday, September 16, 2013

I know the feeling

MOSCOW (AP) — An argument in southern Russia over philosopher
Immanuel Kant, the author of “Critique of Pure Reason,” devolved into
pure mayhem when one debater shot the other.

The state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday cited police in
the city of Rostov-on-Don as saying the argument took place in a small
store and deteriorated into a fistfight. One participant pulled out a
small nonlethal pistol and fired repeatedly.

The victim was hospitalized with injuries that were not
life-threatening. The weapon fired plastic bullets or blanks. Neither
person was identified.

It was not clear which of Kant’s ideas may have triggered the violence.

Arguing about Kant makes me want to shoot somebody, too. On the other hand, is a pistol that shoots blanks a gun? Or only the idea of a gun?